In 1301, the ruler of Hormuz, Bah'-al-Din Ayz, moved his court and a large portion of his population to Qeshm following a Tartar attack (Piacentini, p. 112; Wilson, p. 104). From this period onward the island was an important dependency of the Kingdom of Hormuz, often providing drinking water to Hormuz itself (Steensgaard, pp. 195, 297). When the king of Hormuz, Qotb-al-Din Tahamtan III Firuz Shah, abdicated in favor of his son, Saif-al-Din (1417-1436) in 1417, he retired to Qeshm (Piacentini, p. 99). Qeshm's status as a major Hormuzi mercantile center is shown by the fact that, in late September1552, the Turkish commander Piri Re'is raided it, seizing "a great quantity of goods, of gold and silver, and of cash ... the richest prize that could be found in all the world," according to a contemporary account (zbaran, p. 81; kte, p. 157).

In January 1619, Ruy Freire de Andrade left Lisbon for the Persian Gulf with orders to disperse the English, who had established a factory at Jsk in 1616 (Boxer, p. 58), and to put pressure on the Persians, in part by dislodging the Persian garrison on Qeshm and building a Portuguese fort there (Boxer, p. 71; Slot, p. 107; Steensgaard, p. 312). Two thousand Portuguese soldiers, supported by 1,000 Hormuzi troops, landed on 7 May 1621. They drove off the Persians; and over the next five and a half months, they constructed a strong fort (Boxer, p. 72). Beginning in the winter of 1621/22, however, Emm-qoli Khan of Shiraz for nine months blockaded the Portuguese garrison (but not their flotilla), under the command of Ruy Freire, in their recently constructed fort on Qeshm. His intention was to cut off water and supplies for Hormuz, the real object of the attack (Wilson, p. 144). The timely arrival at Jsk on 24 December 1621 of an English East India Company squadron, due to collect silk for export, provided Emm-qoli Khan with willing partners to assist in the expulsion of the Portuguese, in return for sole English custody over the castle of Hormuz, among other things (Boxer, p. 74). On 2 February 1622 five English guns were landed; and after fruitless negotiations between Ruy Freire and Edward Monnox, the English bombarded the fort. The garrison surrendered; Ruy Freire was sent off as prisoner in the Lion to Surat; and a Persian force was installed on the island (Boxer, pp. 77-78). The Arctic navigator, William Baffin, was killed in this action (Wilson, p. 146).

Turning their attention to Hormuz, the Persians offered the Portuguese commander there Qeshm in return for 500,000 patacas and the port of Jolfr on the Arabian coast; but the offer was rejected, and within a few months Hormuz itself was lost to the Persian and English forces (Slot, p. 116). The Persian position on Qeshm, however, was tenuous. During the winter of 1629/30 the island was raided by a large Portuguese force; and Portuguese trade revived, so much so that the Persians agreed to pay tribute to the Portuguese in return for continued use of Qeshm (Slot, p. 134). The death of Shah 'Abbs, however, followed by the execution of Emm-qoli Khan, put an end to these payments (Boxer, p. 144). Meanwhile, the Dutch were experiencing difficulties negotiating a trade agreement with the Persians, and in 1645 they attacked the Persian garrison on Qeshm (Wilson, p. 164; Slot, p. 151). Although unable to take the fort, the Dutch nevertheless succeeded in pressuring the Shah; and their trading position improved markedly. As late as 1673 however, the Portuguese continued to press their claims for tribute from the Persians for use of Qeshm (Slot, p. 204). Nevertheless, Qeshm would once again fall prey to the Dutch. As their trade in the late 1670s and early 1680s became increasingly unprofitable under existing conditions, the Dutch sent a squadron to Bandar-e 'Abbs under Casembroot, who in 1683 captured Qeshm and its Persian garrison (Slot, p. 207).

Meanwhile, the expansion of Oman led to war with Persia. Dutch records attest to Omani attacks on Qeshm in 1712 and 1717, when the island was overrun (Slot, pp. 235, 237). Even the Portuguese, assisting the Persians in 1719, could not nullify the burgeoning Omani naval power (Slot, p. 243). A treaty between Oman and Persia stipulated the return of Qeshm to Persian control in return for a berth on the island for use as a naval repair yard (Slot, p. 244).

About this time, Sheikh Raid, an Arab sheikh based at Bsidu in western Qeshm, began to exert his influence by making Bsidu an attractive center for trade and attempting to secure the office of "governor of the port" in several of the mainland Persian ports (Slot, p. 252). By 1726, however, English traders accused Arab vessels cruising off Qeshm of attacking English shipping; they began boycotting Bsidu even as they asserted the right to control all sea trade in the region (Slot, p. 262). The following year, Afghan forces pushed south to Bandar-e 'Abbs, but Sheikh Raid successfully negotiated peace, in return for hefty tribute, with the Afghan ahbandar Sayyed 'Ali (Slot, p. 263). Shortly thereafter, Sheikh Raid was imprisoned by Zabardast Khan, the Afghan general, and Bsidu was sacked. A sizable payment secured his release in February 1728; and now the English, having quarreled with Sayyed 'Ali, threatened to abandon Bandar-e 'Abbs in favor of Bsidu (Slot, p. 264). It was the Portuguese, however, who reappeared in 1729, seizing the customs house at Bsidu and ransacking Sheikh Raid's belongings, but by the following year the Portuguese were gone. Sheikh Raid returned to Bsidu, and the English remained in control of Qeshm (Slot, p. 266). Anxious to assist the Afghans at the expense of their Dutch trading rivals, the English willingly landed an Afghan force on Qeshm (Slot, p. 268). Early in 1729 an uprising was staged against the Afghans by the local population, and the English and Dutch failed to come to any agreement over the fate of Qeshm. In the end, Sheikh abona, a pro-Afghan Arab living in eastern Qeshm, seized control of the island, decapitated some of the rebels, and sent the heads to Bandar-e 'Abbs (Slot, p. 271). Afghan defeats in Persia created instability, however; and later in the same year 'Abd-Allh b. Mas'ud, wakil of Muscat, raided Qeshm (Slot, p. 271). Meanwhile, Sheikh Raid of Bsidu supported the restoration of Shah Tahmsp II; but when the Afghans were eventually routed, Raid found himself blamed by Tahmsp-qoli Khan's (Nder Shah) English and Dutch allies for the escape of the Afghan forces to Arabia. The English arrested him, and the Dutch seized his ship; but intervention by Mirz Taqi, ex-governor of Shiraz and aide to Tahmsp-qoli Khan, effected his release and return to Bsidu (Slot, pp. 280-81).